The Chronicle goes after 'Headlines'
and the 'Chronicle Watch'
Some time ago, Chronicle Editor Michael Wagar attended a Lewis County Democrats Central Committee meeting.  He wanted to talk about the new direction the paper was about to take, while many of us wanted to talk about our perception of bias in his paper.  He seemed somewhat stunned when we suggested that his paper did not recognize, let alone adequately represent the 40% of county residents who typically vote Democratic.  He honestly thought the paper was (if you'll pardon the use of the phrase) fair and balanced, and did not seem to find anything wrong with the Editorial Board being comprised totally of conservatives, with nary a Democrat to be found.  The Editorial Board still consists of five Republican/conservatives and no Progressive/Democrats.

Which brings us to these 'Headlines,' in which we periodically comment on editorials run in The Chronicle.  They don't like that.  As a matter of fact, they dedicated their July 2nd editorial to telling the county just how much they don't like the 'Headlines.'  (We thank them for the free publicity.)  Here's part of what they said:

‘Chronicle Watch’ Needs to Add Thought Into Its Automatic Attack Mode
"Most days we receive an e-mail blast from the Lewis County Democrats. Its title is “Headlines: Picking through the news so you don’t have to.” It typically starts with a cartoon slamming President George Bush, finds some attacks on Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a few positive items on Barack Obama, finds a few pro-environmental articles, and occasionally prints something called “Chronicle Watch.”

"That is usually a knee-jerk reaction to anything written by The Chronicle’s Editorial Board under its daily “Our Views” banner, calling much of what we write “elephant dung.” We have found it amusing in the past that “Chronicle Watch” has attacked our viewpoint on the lack of leadership from County Commissioner Richard Graham and state Sen. Dan Swecker. That scenario has the liberal establishment of Lewis County attacking The Chronicle for its criticism of Republicans. Hmmm.

"Today’s “Chronicle Watch” takes us to task for criticizing the Washington State Democratic Party for its racist-toned attack ad against gubernatorial candidate and Republican Dino Rossi. We point out that Gov. Chris Gregoire should have control over such actions within her own party, and that it is time for a power change in Olympia after 24 years of Democratic control."

"After what they did to Jim Lowery, Richard Graham, and are now trying to do to Dan Swecker, the Chronicle's Editorial Board should not be lecturing anyone on "fairness, decency or good manners."  And by their own rational, they've just insulted every Democrat of Italian heritage in the state of Washington.  Let's try a little test.  Replace "Democrats" with "Republicans" in that last paragraph, and "the state of Washington" with "Lewis County."  How does that read to you?

"Take our poll on whether you think The Chronicle is fair to, or biased against Democrats here.  If you have slow dial-up service, use this link."